Egyptian atheist attacked and arrested

Alber Saber, a former christian and currently an atheist, admin of the "Egyptian Atheists facebook page" was attacked by mob and arrested by the police on Thursday evening. He is accused of atheism , disgracing religions, and disseminating the anti-islam film (he only shared it on his page) .

It's still vague how it all started , but one news site stated that Alber (24 years) invited a muslim friend to his house when that friend used Alber's PC and knew of his atheism and the facebook page he is running. a fierce argument erupted between the both , he dragged him to the streets were the mob gathered and attacked Alber, they even wanted to burn his house.

The police was called in, they arrested him and accused him of the charges mentioned above.

There is a video of the incident uploaded on YouTube where the angry mob is seen demanding Saber be apprehended. Hundreds of angry protesters had gathered before police arrived. As Saber was hauled to the police van, insults were heard being hurled at the man, with many calling for his death due to him being an infidel.

Alber decided to go on hunger strike starting from today, what i fear is that even if they set him free, the mob won't let him live and they will probably kill him.

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It quite is, but I'm rather pessimistic about such things in Egypt. I'd wait for a few months to see if that's really going to be applied or it's just a mere media stunt to compensate for supporting blasphemy laws so that the government doesn't feel like a theocracy.

Hey, Guys and Gals, I found an interesting site some of you might be interested in.

We've all heard that some Islamic governments want to make defamation of religion a global crime, via the U.N., with U.N. sanctioned punishments.

This site is called, "Religious Liberty Monitoring," and the author is Elizabeth Kendal, an Adjunct Research Fellow in the Centre for the Study of Islam and Other Faiths at the Melbourne School of Theology. She also serves as an advisor (one of several) to the U.N., and you won't believe what the Islamic nations are trying to push through, and just may accomplish it. Her full report to the public is entitled, "UNHRC Resolution 16/18 -- the OIC, the UN and Apostaphobia."

The article is worth a read in its entirety, as she takes you through the process from it's first introduction in 2005, to the present day, but let me give you a couple of things that she says, that I find particularly interesting.

She says that, "on account of the new openness available through satellite, internet and mobile phone technologies, disillusioned Muslims are rejecting and leaving Islam in unprecedented numbers."

The passage of this resolution establishes a dangerous precedent - previously, the UN has worked to protect Human Rights, but in this instance, religion (specifically Islam) was to be awarded rights normally reserved for human beings.

The Islamic nations, via their organization, the OIC, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, make it appear that this resolution will protect those of all religions from discrimination and/or racial profiling, but, as Ms Kendal says, "From the very outset, the OIC's agenda was to have criticism of Islam deemed defamatory so that it might be criminalised." Further examination reveals that, "those who 'defame' Islam must be held accountable for Islamic extremism" in other words, as I read that sentence, if I do or say anything to defame Islam, and you kill me, I'm responsible for your action, because I defamed Islam.

Other conclusions are that, "anti-Semitism is not religious or racial but political and Israel's fault" - so Jews are not protected under this resolution. Further, "Christianophobia...is caused by the aggressive and unethical proselytising of evangelical Christians" - so Christians won't be protected by it either. Hmm, let's see - who does that leave? Anybody?

To counter the Islamic term, "Islamophobia," intended to portray Islamists as victims, Ms Kendal has coined her own term, which she introduced in a paper to the UN committee, angering many of the Islamic representatives - "Apostaphobia," which she explains:

"I proposed that apostaphobia be defined as a well-founded fear of loss of authority through loss of adherents, which manifests primarily as uncompromising repression and denial of fundamental liberties, by violent and subversive means."

More re the UN defamation of religion resolution, this from the Secular Coalition for America:

UN: After Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promised to introduce a resolution against insulting religion at the UN General Assembly, we have started to see draft resolutions leak out. One particularly troubling draft circulated at the Human Rights Council reads: "Deploring the use of print, audio, and electronic media including the Internet and any other means to incite acts of national, racial, or religious violence, xenophobia, or related intolerance and discrimination against any religion, as well as the targeting of religious symbols and venerated persons." This language is pulled directly from a 2009 version of the so-called "defamation of religions" resolution (A/HRC/RES/10/22). Fortunately it appears the Council will not take this up before its session closes on Sept. 28, but we can't be sure. Also, the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief is hosting a lunch meeting Thursday with Dr. Paul Bhatti, Adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Minority Affairs. We plan to discuss with him blasphemy laws and their harmful consequences for religious minorities, dissidents, and nonbelievers. The draft resolution can be found here: http://www.eyeontheun.org/assets/attachments/documents/10563from_rh...

One question though Marvel - the headline reads, "Egypt must release man on trial for criticizing religion," but the first paragraph says, "A man facing trial for publishing videos critical of religions should be immediately released by the Egyptian authorities and all charges against him dropped."

That's quite a difference - just how much influence does Amnesty International have?

I am SO glad this is getting international attention - I can deal with Islam, but fundamentalist Islam is as bad or worse than Christian fundamentalists. If I had my way, they'd both be put on an island and allowed to fight it out, with the winner staying on the island!